No, seriously, lock your vehicles. That bears repeating because, according to reports from MCSO, not nearly enough people around town are following it.

While locking your vehicle isn’t a surefire way to prevent a break-in or theft, it’s definitely an added obstacle for would-be criminals that can go a long way to discourage them.

According to recent reports, MCSO is currently investigating about a dozen local burglaries to vehicles committed around town last week, plus several reported vehicle thefts. These are on top of similar vehicle break-ins that occurred the weeks prior.

And what’s the one thing the majority of these incidents have in common? According to Capt. Larry Kratzer, nearly all of those vehicles were unlocked at the time. Other common factors include that, in some cases, valuables were left in plain sight or the keys were left in the vehicle.

Fountain Hills isn’t Mayberry. We all like to think that our community is immune to the types of crimes seen in other parts of the Valley, but that’s simply not the case. We’re not saying we should start trying to lock the place down like Fort Knox, but there are some basic safety precautions that could help make the community a less enticing target for, say, a long string of vehicle burglaries.

And another thing that should go without saying: If you see something, say something. Consider this a friendly reminder that Fountain Hills takes advantage of the P3 application for residents who wish to leave an anonymous tip, be it suspicious activity in a parking lot or someone seen snooping around a neighbor’s house. The app is available on all mobile devices and takes about two minutes to set up. It works as fast as a phone call to MCSO and local authorities are able to respond to the tip quickly. For more details and links to download the P3 app on your smartphone, visit p3tips.com.